Protesting Belgian Firefighters Foam Riot Police.

[Popular Front of Judea]

Surreal.

S_PecsEGbsY

[Marxaveli]

Fucking awesome, and pretty funny too.

[Ele'ill]

oh cool a protest

[Raquin]

Surreal? A small amount of firefighters foaming a small amount of cops isn't very surreal.

[Tower of Bebel]

The protests used to be bigger and more violent. I remember images from 2007, when the firefighters used their tools to break through police barriers. This failed and the response from the police resulted in some firefighters ending up in hospital. From what I can see, the trade unions leaders must have made a deal with the governement: let us near the government building and we'll make sure that the protests will be reduced to a symbolic use of foam and water. I guess the firefighters have grown tired.

Here are youtube videos from the last few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJKw7Fw0u1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi7TCGbk51k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHp3mujIq3o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTg91PBO4Y4

Here's a collection of photos from the most recent protest.

http://www.collectif-krasnyi.be/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BBB7567.jpg

http://www.collectif-krasnyi.be/?p=16192

Paris has seen similar protests over the last couple of years.

[Sasha]

I wouldnt call paralysing traffic in the capital all day and putting burning car tyres in front of the house of the prime-minister symbolic protest. Esp if you combine it with an "this is just the start" threat.

[Zealot]

I wouldnt call paralysing traffic in the capital all day and putting burning car tyres in front of the house of the prime-minister symbolic protest. Esp if you combine it with an "this is just the start" threat.

boohoo you sound like a right-winger complaining about the inconvenience of union protests and union intimidation. I thought this was Revleft tbh

[Sasha]

Wut? I wholeheartedly agree with the actions, for me they could have shut down the city for a week and set the prime-ministers office itself on fire. I just said that rakunins calling the protest "symbolic" and "probably agreed uppon in advance with the government" unfair and unlikely.
Get your chip off your shoulder already dude.

[tachosomoza]

This is...awesome. Here in the US the only time firemen would hose riot police would be if they were non-European descended minorities and the riot police were protesting.

[Zealot]

Wut? I wholeheartedly agree with the actions, for me they could have shut down the city for a week and set the prime-ministers office itself on fire. I just said that rakunins calling the protest "symbolic" and "probably agreed uppon in advance with the government" unfair and unlikely.
Get your chip off your shoulder already dude.

lol my bad I was half asleep when I read your post

[Tower of Bebel]

I just said that rakunins calling the protest "symbolic" and "probably agreed uppon in advance with the government" unfair and unlikely.
You know, the ones on the street or the ones at the door of the government building were not the only police force in the area. The firemen, like any other group of protesters who are allowed to enter the forbidden area (in front of the government buildings), were surrounded by "hidden" groups of policemen. The trade unions must have had talks with the police about the proceedings of the protest.

The current protest was the last in a long row of both national and regional protests to enforce the demands concerning retirement age and employment statutes. (This is going on since at least 2007.) The course of development of the protests seems to suggest that the trade union leadership is using the common tactic of delay and controlled outburst to weaken the resolve of the rank and file and to preserve their position of negotiators.

While the firemen belong to the more militant parts of the workers' movement, the trade union leaders (not the shop stewards necessarily but the top brass) have decided to separate the efforts of the firemen from those of other sections such as the chemical workers, the metal workers, etc.

After the initial protests, which seemed uncontrolled and were more violent and threatening, they must have taken the decission to demobilise the rank and file, which resulted in smaller protests that were safe enough to control by both the trade unions and the police. Hence the symbolic protest in front of the camera's, a result which we call "to let off steam". In the long term such actions lead to further demobilisation and demotivation.

But that shouldn't lead us to think that all is lost. As long as the firemen want to protest, and as long as the disputes with the government are not resolved, there is the potential to come up with a real, organised plan of action.

[piet11111]

Love how those cops are just standing there :laugh:

But i cant help but think that had they been normal workers instead of "heroic firefighters" they would have been attacked.

[Lensky]

Its a good start, but too docile and without a revolutionary platform, ultimately just reformism.

[revolutionarymir]

Love how those cops are just standing there :laugh:

But i cant help but think that had they been normal workers instead of "heroic firefighters" they would have been attacked.

Absolutely. But hey, at least firefighters in more cases than not are true heroes. I have far more respect for people that join the fire department or become EMTs than police "officers".